Tag: Kenan Thompson

  • Remaking ‘Going in Style’ was a great idea that went horribly wrong

    Remaking ‘Going in Style’ was a great idea that went horribly wrong

    “Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength” – Betty Friedan

    “Wake up, Al. The cops just called us a bunch of amateurs. I suppose we gotta’ knock off a bank every other week in order to get some respect from those jerks.” – George Burns as “Joe” in the original 1979 film Going in Style.

    There is no question that Hollywood loves making heist movies.  They love making and remaking them.  Since 1999 they’ve remade Ocean’s Eleven, The Italian Job, The Thomas Crown Affair and Fun With Dick and Jane.  I mention the last one because when I reviewed it in 2005 I said that while the remake was probably worth seeing, people would probably do better by renting the original.  Sadly that statement is even more accurate in the 2017 reimagining of 1979’s brilliant Going in Style.

    Alan Arkin, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, Academy Award winners one and all star as three retirees who toiled in a steel factory for decades.   “Al (Arkin) supplements his pension giving sax lessons to untalented youngsters while his neighbor “Annie” (Ann-Margaret) is warm for his form.  “Joe” (Caine has allowed his daughter “Rachel” (Maria Dizzia – Margin Call) and his granddaughter “Brooklyn” (Joey King – Independence Day: Resurgence) to move into his house.  But when he visits the bank to find out why his pension checks have stopped, the bank is robbed by three men.  Their robbery is a dazzling display of precious planning and excellent execution.  They are in and out in two minutes and get away with more than $1 million.  Joe becomes a witness when he shares a moment with one of the robbers and is questioned by FBI Special Agent Hamer (Matt Dillon – Armored).  “Willie” (Freeman) has not told either Al (his roommate) or Joe that he is in end-stage renal failure and doesn’t have long to live without a kidney transplant.

    Michael Caine and Joey King in ‘Going in Style’

    After the robbery the trio attend a meeting about the stopping of their pension payments.  There they learn their financial futures are ruined because their former employer was taken over by a foreign corporation that has decided to cease operating in the U.S.  As a result the fund that pays their pensions has been frozen and its assets will be liquidated to pay off the company’s creditors.  This gives Joe the idea that if those three robbers could rob his bank, so can he and his friends.  Some elaborate planning and scheming transpires, where they are helped by a “low-life” friend of Rachel’s ex-husband named “Jesus” (John Ortiz – Silver Linings Playbook).

    The presence of the underhanded corporate tactics of the former employer and the bank are intended to provide a reason for the robbery, something this reimagining changed from the original.  A change for the worse.  Growing old in a society that praises and prizes youth is tough enough.  The trio of lead actors, aided by a set of stellar supporting players do their best but this move delivers neither style, drama or laughs in sufficient measure.  Joey King is great in a role that was written for her.  Ann-Margaret still oozes sensuality.  The alibis created by Al, Joe and Willie are interesting and well-photographed and Christopher Lloyd is fun as an elderly man who isn’t quite “all there.”  It just isn’t enough.

  • ‘They Came Together’ does a good job of generating laughs

    ‘They Came Together’ does a good job of generating laughs

    Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper in 'They Came Together'
    Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper in ‘They Came Together’

    Anytime I look at the “specs” of a film prior to viewing and see that the running time is less than 90 minutes, unless it is a documentary, I get nervous.  While not always true, usually the shorter running time is an indicator the film will disappoint.  Fortunately for the 83 minute movie They Came Together, that wasn’t the case.

    Writer/director David Wain has been hit (Wet Hot American Summer) and miss (Wanderlust) and with this film he’s closer to the former than the latter.  This send-up of the rom-com genre aims for ten laughs a minute and gets an average of six or seven.  The film opens with two well-dressed couples enjoying an upscale dining experience.  “Joel” (Rudd) and “Molly” (Poehler) are regaling “Kyle” (Hader) and “Karen” (Kemper) with the tale of how they first met.

    Amy owns and operates a tiny candy shop while Joel works for Candy Systems and Research (CSR) a company that owns and operates mega candy stores.   But You’ve Got Mail isn’t the only rom-com being sent up here with wicked (some) humor.  Jerry Maguire, Along Came Polly and Notting Hill are just a few of the genre’s film being spoofed here.

    Rudd and Poehler have strong chemistry in 'They Came Together'
    Rudd and Poehler have strong chemistry in ‘They Came Together’

    Turns out Joel and Amy first met at a Halloween party, brought together by the host couple.  Joel just found his girlfriend “Tiffany” (Smulders) in bed with a co-worker of his while “Molly” is just worried over the CSR store putting her out of business.  Halloween is a great opportunity to use costumes to cause laughs and Wain takes full advantage.  The hilarity runs from there as Joel and Molly fall in and out of love with each other and others.

    Spoofs can be incredibly brilliant (Blazing Saddles and Airplane come to mind) or amazingly awful (Date Movie and Disaster Movie are among the worst of this group).  They Came Together is neither brilliant nor awful.  The performers make up for the occasion comedy misfire as they are all veteran comedy actors.  Yes some of the jokes are recycled but are there really that many original jokes left to write?

    I didn’t check to see if David Wain has made a film that Paul Rudd didn’t have a speaking role in, but I highly doubt it.  Casting him opposite Amy Poehler was a strong choice as they have nice chemistry.  While many think of Chris Meloni only as the anger-management challenged detective from TV’s “SVU,” he’s an old hand at garnering laughs.

    As always, the true test of a comedy is how much it makes you laugh.  You’ll get your money’s worth of laughter from They Came Together.

  • ‘Snakes on a Plane’ is an e-ticket flight

    ‘Snakes on a Plane’ is an e-ticket flight

    Samuel L. Jackson and one of his many hissing co-stars in ‘Snakes On a Plane’

    Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome aboard New Line Cinema’s non-stop adventure flight Snakes on a Plane, with flight crew of director David R. Ellis (Cellular, Final Destination 2) and screenwriters John Hefferman and Sebastian Gutierrez. Please remember to stow all logic and scientific knowledge of snakes in the overhead compartments, make sure your tray-tables are in the upright position and then fasten your seatbelts in preparation to enjoy a wild ride. Your flight time will be 105 minutes of hissing excitement.

    Snakes on a Plane is a movie that has been generating tons of buzz on the net since it was first announced. Lead actor Samuel L. Jackson signed up only because of the title and when it was temporarily changed to “Pacific Air Flight 121”, he demanded it be changed back.

    The story is that a major crime figure goes to Hawaii and murders a prosecutor who is vigorously pursuing him in court, but the murder is witnessed by the victim’s son (Nathan Phillips) and the son agrees to testify against his father’s killer. The mobsters try to kill the witness but the attempt is foiled at the last moment by the arrival of bad-ass FBI agent Neville Flynn (Jackson).

    Some of the ‘Snakes on a Plane’ taking their seats

    Flynn has to get his witness to Los Angeles and he plays a bit of a shell game, letting the local cops think that he will be flying a private jet to L.A. from Honolulu, but the mobsters manage to get the snakes onto the commercial flight that Flynn takes his witness on, commandeering the entire first class section and causing a number of passengers who were scheduled to fly first class to be bumped down to coach.

    Once the plane is in the sky, a device triggers the release of the snakes and the real adventures in fun and survival begin. Who will be the first to be struck? Will the pilot and co-pilot both survive in order to be able to land the plane?

    Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, the Special Agent in Charge is Hank Harris (Bobby Canavale of Third Watch fame) is trying to find a snake expert to assist, and to locate anti-venom to aid those who have been bitten on board the plane. He locates Dr. Steven Price (Todd Louiso) who proves to be a true expert on the origins of the snakes and in finding the one person in the Los Angeles area who would have the ability to provide all of those different snakes to the big-time mobster.

    Julianna Margulies in ‘Snakes On a Plane’

    Snakes on a Plane is terrific entertainment IF you can remember to suspend logic and science and just watch the darn movie. Jackson is at his best, in his element in a role that was tailor-made for him. The frenetic action is just right, the cheesy dialogue is perfect and it all works. The snakes make some great kills that are just incredible from a viscerally visual perspective. This is a definite improvement on films like Eight Legged Freaks and other comedy/horror combinations.

    Mr. Jackson said “This is not a film for critics” and I would agree that most critics would not enjoy this kind of film. Then again, here at Tail Slate, we aren’t most critics. We loved Snakes on a Plane.